AmerisourceBergen gets U.S. subpoena regarding Memphis plant

(Reuters) - AmerisourceBergen Corp (ABC.N) on Tuesday said it received a grand jury subpoena from U.S. prosecutors seeking documents related to laboratory testing procedures at a facility that produces around half of the compounded drugs it supplies.

The U.S. drug distributor also said it expected to take a $60 million hit to its core profit in 2018 after it suspended operations at the automated facility in Memphis in December following inspections by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

AmerisourceBergen said the grand jury subpoena it received in November from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Tennessee sought records regarding products packaged in a certain type of syringe at the Memphis facility.

The Memphis plant, which makes medicines in doses that are not commercially available, was acquired as part of AmerisourceBergen’s 2015 buy of PharMEDium Healthcare Holdings.

In January, the PharMEDium unit announced that it was expanding a recall that it began in December of certain drugs produced at the Memphis facility due to a lack of sterility assurance.

AmerisourceBergen reported that its top-earning drug distribution services unit – which connects drugmakers with hospitals and pharmacies – earned $38.94 billion in the first quarter.

But trouble with the Memphis facility, which the company said will resume operations this quarter, dragged sales below the $39.29 billion estimated on average by three analysts polled by Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Investors who previously overlooked the importance of this facility for AmerisourceBergen are now concerned about how it will get the plant up and running, a Deutsche Bank analyst said.